1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an accumulator used in a refrigerant cycle for an automobile air conditioner or the like.
2. Related Art
A conventional accumulator includes, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, a U-shaped suction pipe 52 in a tank 51 to separate gaseous refrigerant and liquid refrigerant that are evaporated in an evaporator (not shown). Further, for an effective separation of gaseous refrigerant and liquid refrigerant under the circumstances in which the accumulator suffers from vibration or swing, a defroster 53 in the shape of an umbrella or reversed-cup is provided in the conventional accumulator. Furthermore, to remove water, a dryer unit 54 is provided in the tank 51. Such a dryer unit 54 has a complicated structure because of a space for the suction pipe 52. Besides, to return oil to a compressor, a filter 55 with a peculiar structure is mounted at a bottom end of the suction pipe 52.
Various structures for an accumulator have been proposed, for example, as shown in Japanese patent unexamined publication No. 51-42157 and Japanese utility model unexamined publication No. 55-26329.
However, such a conventional accumulator is composed of many parts, such as a suction pipe 52, a defroster 53, a dryer unit 54, a filter 55, etc. Further, each of such parts has a complicated and peculiar shape and/or structure, resulting in high production cost.
There is another problem in that a pressure loss of refrigerant passing through the accumulator is relatively large since refrigerant is sucked through the suction pipe 52 provided in the tank 51 and a defroster 53 is provided in the tank. The filter 55 mounted in the manner described above also causes an increase in the refrigerant pressure loss.